Jennifer Van Os

ResearchI received my Ph.D. in the interdisciplinary Animal Behavior graduate program at UC Davis. For my dissertation, I investigated how spraying cows with different amounts of water in hot summer weather affected their behavior, physiology, and production. In warm weather, dairy cows are vulnerable to overheating, which causes discomfort and production losses. Although spraying cows with water is an effective way to cool them, sprinklers use potable water - an increasingly scarce natural resource. My research findings have implications for improving dairy cow comfort in hot weather while using potable water efficiently.

After my Ph.D., I spent an additional year with the Tucker lab as a postdoctoral scholar, followed by a year as a postdoctoral fellow with the Animal Welfare Program at the University of British Columbia. I am now an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Animal Welfare in the Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.